March 8, 2018

The Harrowing True Story of How Vladimir Putin Blew Off Donald Trump

The king and queen of the Netherlands meet with Vladimir Putin the day before the Miss Universe pageant in 2013. Putin sure is short, isn't he? And King Willem-Alexander looks really thrilled to be meeting him, doesn't he?Mikhail Klimentyev/ITAR-TASS/ZUMAPRESS

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Russian Roulette, by David Corn and Michael Isikoff, comes out next week, but we have the first of two excerpts today. There’s plenty of good stuff about Trump’s first forays into Russia, but my favorite is this one about his efforts to meet Vladmir Putin at the Miss Universe pageant in 2013:

Inevitably, the conversation turned toward Putin and whether he would appear at the pageant. “I know for a fact that he wants very much to come,” Trump said, “but we’ll have to see. We haven’t heard yet, but we have invited him.”

….By late afternoon, Trump’s anxiety was palpable. There had been no word. He kept asking if anybody had heard from Putin. Then Agalarov’s phone rang. “Mr. Peskov would like to speak to Mr. Trump,” Agalarov said. Trump and Peskov spoke for a few minutes. Afterward, Trump recounted the conversation to Goldstone. Peskov, he said, was apologetic. Putin very much wanted to meet Trump. But there was a problem nobody had anticipated: a Moscow traffic jam. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands were in town, and Putin was obligated to meet them at the Kremlin. But the royal couple had gotten stuck in traffic and was late, making it impossible for the Russian president to find time for Trump. Nor would he be able to attend the Miss Universe pageant that evening.

Here’s my question: did Trump actually believe this story? A traffic jam? That’s pretty much an intentional insult, isn’t it?

Anyway, this got me curious. As near as I can tell, the Dutch king and queen met with Putin on Friday, the day before the pageant. On the day of the pageant itself, the royals visited an art gallery; met with Dutch and Russian CEOs to discuss “strengthening trade between the two countries”; and then attended an evening concert, where a pair of activists pelted them with tomatoes. I can find no evidence that they met with Putin that day at all, let alone that a traffic jam held them up. So not only was Putin insulting Trump with a phony excuse, he made sure it was an excuse that was really obviously phony unless you’re an idiot.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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